Research Councils report drop in funding success rates

by AprilSix Proof

THE: Drop in success rates for grant applications reported at four research councils

Grant applications for so-called ‘curiosity-driven funding’ have seen success rates fall this past year, with one research council experiencing a drop of 14 percentage points from last year.

Times Higher Education revealed the results after analysing reports from four of the UK’s seven research councils, namely the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Natural Environmental Research Council, the Economic and Social Research Council and the Medical Research Council.

The drop comes after several years of rising success rates, largely due to universities instituting more rigorous triage processes before the grants are submitted.

Mark Llewellyn, director of research at the AHRC, told the THE that “the drop in success rates for research grants is marginal and within the normal range for year-on-year fluctuation.”